PROVING THEMSELVES: Within 30 minutes of the National Women’s Soccer League announcing its Best XI and then 11 more picks for its all-league second team on Wednesday, one Western New York Flash player offered this tweet: “LOL.” To me, it was as profound as it was succinct. Three little letters that matched the number of Flash players honored among the NWSL’s best 22. Laughable – exactly. How in the world does Carli Lloyd NOT make the top 22? Only Abby Wambach and defender Brittany Taylor (first team) and goalie Adrianna Franch (second) were honored, while FC Kansas City had seven players honored (four first-teamers). Yes, K.C. was very good and led the league for much of the past month, but the way the picks shook out and its sweep of postseason awards, you’d have thought the Blues won the NWSL going away. They didn’t. In fact, they followed up their 10-match unbeaten streak, a league high (one better than WNY’s), by losing their last two matches to cough up the No. 1 seed and regular-season crown to the Flash, the NWSL’s most consistent club all season and certainly after their 0-2-1 start (without Lloyd). Whether it was a flawed voting system or just simply a lack of regard for the Flash, who were first in goals scored and allowed, we’ll never know. And while its players haven’t really said much publicly about the snub to Lloyd and a few others, such as 19-year-old winger Sam Kerr, who certainly belonged among the best 22, you just know they’ve discussed the disrespect privately. So I pulled Lloyd and Wambach aside briefly and asked them about it after Friday’s final practice before Saturday’s NWSL Championship against No. 3 Portland.

“I think it’s just more fuel,” said Lloyd, whose eight goals (in 15 matches) were tied for fourth. “We know what we’re capable of. But at the end of the day, everybody wants to be holding up that championship cup. That’s all the matters, really.”

Indeed, Abby echoed the same sentiment, saying she knows every K.C. award-winner would trade the honor to be playing Saturday. “It’s obviously something that makes us want to prove ourselves even more,” said Wambach, who posted team highs in goals (11) and assists (8) and was runner-up for league MVP to Lauren Holiday, an honor she said the K.C. midfielder absolutely deserved (I agree).

Portland has its own disrespect card to play, too, because although the Thorns finished tied with WNY and KC at 38 points – the Flash won the crown based on tiebreakers (it also went 1-0-1 vs. KC, by the way), Alex Morgan, Christine Sinclair and Rachel Buehler only made the NWSL second team. The Thorns had no first-teamers, the only team without one. So who wins tonight? Here are five things to watch:

1. HOW HEALTHY ARE MORGAN AND HEATH? Morgan practiced Thursday and Friday; midfielder Tobin Heath (foot) did not – at least as far as we know. Media was asked to clear Sahlen’s Stadium after the first 15 minutes of the Thorns practice each day. Heath declined to discuss any specifics of her foot after Friday’s session, but it looks as if she hasn’t trained all week. How in the world can she start if that’s the case? Well, she’s a world-class player, so we’ll see. Coach Cindy Parlow Cone, in full gamesmanship mode, said each will play “significant roles” tonight. Certainly, though, neither Heath nor Morgan (knee) are 100%. In fact, I don’t think Morgan will start. Portland has played some good soccer without her the past three matches and she’d be a great weapon off the bench, a role she’s familiar with from her 2011 season with WNY and the U.S. national team. If Morgan was only available for about 15 minutes in last week’s semifinal, I just can’t see how she can give much more than 45-60 minutes tonight.

2. LLOYD’S PRESENCE A DIFFERENCE-MAKER: Everyone is disregarding the Aug. 10 tie, 0-0, between these teams in Rochester because both clubs had dead legs as they ended a busy stretch of matches and Portland was playing its first full match without Morgan, who’d been injured three days before in a 2-1 loss at Boston. The July 21 matchup in Portland was much different. It was back and forth, full of action and goalies Franch (nine saves) and Karina LeBlanc (seven) were terrific. But the Flash midfielders Adriana Martin (national team duty) and Lloyd (friend’s wedding) were each unavailable that day and the Flash had lost 2-1 at Seattle just 72 hours earlier. They still played the Thorns to a 1-1 draw and if Wambach had cashed in a late PK, the Flash would have won. All of that had coach Aaran Lines feeling pretty upbeat about the effort on the road. Lloyd’s confidence is sky high right now. Look for her to tilt the title match in the Flash’s favor.

3. WHICH PORTLAND DEFENSE SHOWS UP? The Thorns finished tied for third in the league in goals allowed (25), right behind WNY and KC, but they had a four-game stretch late in the season, right before the 0-0 result on Aug. 10 in Rochester, when they allowed nine goals in four matches. They seemed to have straightened that out, but then in the first 25 minutes of the semifinals were giving KC acres of space to operate and that’s how they feel behind. They solved that later, in part, by making their attack their best defense and keeping the ball away from KC. But if Portland comes out slow again tonight, the Flash could shred them and put LeBlanc under heavy pressure.

4. AERIAL GAME SHOULD BE KEY: Look, up in the air, it’s a bird, it’s a plane – no – it’s Wambach. Look for the Flash to do exactly what they did last week in a 2-0 semifinal win over Sky Blue FC. Get the ball wide and send in crosses looking for the best target player in the world. Here’s the difference: Portland doesn’t have as much size in the back as Sky Blue, so Wambach might be able to dominate and if she’s first to all those floaters, watch out. Buehler and rookie center back, Kat Williamson, along with Allie Long, will have to be strong. It doesn’t mean she’ll score, but those second balls loose in the box will create havoc and might turn Adriana or Kerr or Lloyd or Taylor into a hero.

5. HANDLING THAT BIG-GAME PRESSURE: There are veterans on both sides, but the Flash have more players who have played in a final. Start with Wambach and Lloyd, who each said having that experience just makes a player feel more comfortable in the moment, not afraid. In fact, Abby said it last week and repeated it on Friday: The team whose players are fearless and unafraid to take chances will win. Mix in all those returnees from last year’s Flash squad, such as captain McCall Zerboni (who I think won’t start against, as rookie Amy Barczuk gets the nod due to Zerboni’s injury), Adriana, Angela Salem and Katherine Reynolds, and they have more big-game experience on which to draw.

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Jeff DiVeronica has covered professional soccer and the Rhinos for the Democrat and Chronicle since the team's inception in 1996. "Devo's Direct Kicks" takes aim mostly at Rochester soccer, but will also highlight the USL, MLS and U.S. national team play. Devo, his nickname since college at St. John Fisher, also hosts two weekly radio shows each Saturday on WHTK-AM/FM (1280/107.3 or www.whtk.com). "Kick This!" (11 a.m.) features soccer talk, while the Canandaigua National Bank High School Sports Show (noon) covers Section V sports. E-mail Jeff at jdiveron@DemocratandChronicle.com.
Or follow him on Twitter: @RocDevo